Week Six: Said, Orientalism, and the sadness of their relevance

First, I want to reiterate how much I appreciate the attention and time you are giving your own blogs and your peers’.  You are really setting the bar high for each other.  That is what graduate school is for–to push your brain’s function well past its previous abilities.  I enjoy reading your different interpretations.  They are the highlight of my week often.

If there is one theory that has informed my scholarship over any other, it is Edward Said‘s concept of orientalism.  I wish it weren’t so relevant today.  But as you can see from my presentation that I want you to watch (link below), I argue that it is more relevant today than ever.  It is difficult for me to read anything without this lens, and I almost feel like I am cursing you and your ability to watch the news or have a conversation with a stranger again (as in the conversation I recently had where someone made the comment, “She may as well have had a towel on her head for as much as I could understand her” in reference to the woman she asked for directions.  Sigh.)  In my mind, there is nothing as dangerous as essentializing a population.  Hence why I remind my Democrat friends that Republicans, too, love their families, etc.  Essentializing is seductive in its ease.  But it is also the first step in dehumanizing.

I imagine many of you will be able to share powerful narratives about being othered (some of you already have).  Those personal connections are a strong tool when defining one’s subject position.

For your blog post this week, discuss the definitions and the Said reading and if you would like to apply it anything you are witnessing, feel free to do so.

So for this week’s required viewing, I humbly offer you a talk I have given in various forms at West Chester University, Lehigh University, and at our own KU–and then was invited to give at Shepherd University as part of a yearlong investigation of Malala–and most recently in Allentown. I am happy that so many people are willing to listen to what I have to say.  And this idea that I present runs through much of my scholarship.  Some see Said’s works as outdated; I wish it were.

 

Trump Speaking on Nationalism

With this being our focus last week, I would remiss if I did not share part of this speech.

 

Week Five: Isn’t every po-co novel about hybridity in the end?

With hundreds more on my shelf waiting to be read and hundreds already behind me, I find myself asking the above question more and more often.  I feel like the trope of searching for identity, while really in all books, comes through almost every time I use my po-co theory lens and sit with a novel or short story from most places in the world (most recently Moshin Hamid’s short story “The Third Born” in the New Yorker).  I feel like I am bestowing not a curse, maybe a burden or at least a responsibility on your shoulders as we delve deeper into our studies, that you may never be able to look at a text in the same way again.  While that thrills me, I also know that there is something of an innocence lost, an inability to just read a book for the sake of reading it, which while it would be nice, also feels like a shirking of responsibility as a global citizen.  Anyway, enough of my pining and navel gazing..

This week we continue working with Nervous Conditions.  I think you are seeing why we are reading this novel along with our study of mimicry and now hybridity.  The novel begs to be paired with these concepts, and I think makes these concepts clearer for you.  I hope.  We spend some more time with Walcott.  I hope you enjoyed the poem from last week (I didn’t see much tangling with “A Latin Primer” in your posts last week, so if it shows up in this week’s writing, all the better).  It gets better every time I read it.

In this week’s original blog post, just keep up the good work.  You are responding well to the texts. I like to see those direct quotes and analysis.   I am responding and running the class as I would in a traditional classroom.  I find the less I say, the more you say.  If you need/want more response, just let me know.  I would also be happy to chat over Skype or in my office.

The image above is from “Homes Abroad,” a wonderful first person narrative about the work of identity.

You might want to start adding “tags” to your posts.  I have no idea how the Interweb works, but I know tags help people find the good work you are doing.  And I love seeing your posts start to look more like blogs.  People will be very impressed with the work you are doing.

Also, I am noticing on the click counter that most of you are not taking advantage of the links I am adding.  While this week’s link is really only a way to see what people are writing right now, the past few weeks’ links have been there to send you to critical information that I think would be helpful to a young poco scholar.  So do your best to find some time to engage with the secondary material I am offering, things that I would probably show you during class if we were to meet in a classroom.

I leave you with this short discussion of hybridity in various academic fields.  I am not sure why we need pictures of people running on a treadmill, but I think the conversation is interesting.

Week Four: Mimicry, Identity, and the bildungsroman

I hope you have already buckled your seat belts, because our wild ride through po-co theory continues this week with the concept of mimicry and then next week with hybridity.  My diss advisor Deep Singh is, for real, a lifesaver, because he has articulated these two concepts in a way I have never seen before.  So concise.  This post will save you a lot of mental trouble, so I would read it before you hit the Bhabha piece.  Reading Deep’s piece, I am reminded of how important it is to have a rock star as an advisor…

It seems our conversation about identity is bound to continue, and the novel I have chosen for this week (or the first half of it) is pretty much THE novel a po-co scholar will use to discuss these two concepts.  Plus, I love this novel because I think it is teachable to a secondary school population.  Getting world lit texts in the classroom is a goal of mine, so anytime I can assign a piece that a high school teacher could use, I do.

What I would like you to do with week’s blog post is apply your understanding of the theory to Nervous Conditions (I think you should be able to do that having just read the first half).  Pick a scene or a character and start to play with applying theory to text.  If you are feeling nervous about doing that (sorry, I had to), let me know.  I am here to help.

I love this cover.  I love the extra-diegetic gaze of the girl.  So smart and assertive.  We don’t always see book covers like this one, as this great piece will illustrate in just a few minutes of your time.

If you have an extra 90 minutes, you can watch this.  NOT required.  Just throwing it out there for your consideration if you would like to spend an hour and a half with Homi Bhabha instead of Idris Elba.

Final Assignment Information

I have had some questions about the final assignments for the class, so here is what I am looking for:

Most importantly, I would like you to leave the class with something useful to you in your life beyond December.  

For the teachers in the group, I imagine a well-thought out unit plan that would last several weeks and use one or more of the course texts will probably be of use and serve as a final project.  For the academics, a final paper that could serve as a conference paper or the beginnings of an article will be useful  (I’m thinking 10-15 pages).  I am also open to hearing other ideas for a final project.

If you are going to do a unit plan, I would like there to be two-page rationale that explains why teaching postcolonial texts is important.  Imagine that you have to make a pitch to your principal or school board to make the case for a new unit (you don’t even need to know what your unit would look like yet).  Explain to them what postcolonial texts are and give a theoretical framework for this kind of study in a secondary classroom.

If you are thinking about writing an academic paper for your final project, in your intro, pick several theoretical pieces to tangle with.  Summarize them.  Pull out their claims.  Respond to them.  Explain why you see them as useful.  What questions do they make you raise?

If you have questions, let me know.  You are welcome to schedule time with me during my office hours after break.  But you can also contact me over email.

I would love to know what you are thinking of doing.  Maybe you could leave me a paragraph comment to give me a sense of your direction?

Say What? Issues of Language and Identity: Week Three

I am especially impressed by the posts I have read so far about nationalism.  It sounds like a lot of you are working on defining your subject positions using the theory we are reading.  I find that thrilling.  I am also learning so much about each of you through the elements you are sharing:  the music, graphics, and discussions of past and current scholarship.  It seems like you are finding po-co theory to be invigorating and challenging and sometimes painful.  I know that feeling.

While tangling with the idea of nationalism, some of you were already expressing concern about othering (a concept we will discuss in depth in a few weeks) the “third-world” or “emerging economies” or “the Global South,” all problematic terms, for sure.  What happens when we give primacy to markets defined by capitalism?  It seems the language we use to speak about countries that are “different” tells us a lot about ourselves.  While I think you have plenty of reading to do, I will offer you this essay by Aijaz Ahmad in which he criticizes Jameson’s ideas.  Remember, Jameson was writing about these issues early in the field of study, so folks will of course use his essay as a touchstone for criticism.  If you finish your reading for this week and want to spend some time with another essay about nationalism and allegory, I humbly offer you this one.  Again, you don’t have to read it.  Maybe tuck the link away for some reading during the winter…

This week we will focus on issues of language, a debate which, as you will see, depends on issues of identity and nationalism.

We finally get a little bit of literature in the mix this week.  No po-co class worth its salt would ignore Salman Rushdie, or should I say Sir Salman Rushdie.  He is a prolific writer and am important figure in the literary world.  If you don’t know about his experience after writing The Satanic Verses, you will want to learn a bit more about it.  You will read  “‘Commonwealth Literature’ Does Not Exist.” You can read about the idea of Commonwealth literature here (by my esteemed advisor at Lehigh, Deep Singh, whom you may have heard on NPR after the shootings at the Sikh place of worship this summer).

The second piece, “A Latin Primer,” is one of my favorite pieces by Derek Walcott.  When you have a few weeks with nothing to read (ha, ha), I suggest you tangle with his gorgeous epic poem Omeros.  You won’t understand half of it, and you will still love it (at least that has been my experience).  The way he speaks of language in this poem takes my breath away.  If you have some extra time or want to listen to something while you are making dinner, I offer you his Nobel acceptance speech.  Again, not required at all, just something for anyone who is interested.  Also, you can watch the videos I made about the poem here: there are five short videos in the series.

For this week, I ask you to keep up the good work and write original blog posts about issues of language and identity with a focus on the theory and the literature, including Khamila Shamsie’s brilliant novel Home Fire, which is a modern take on the story of Antigone.  Take the theory and the lit and run with them.  I am finding that you are all going above and beyond any kind of parameters I may set, so all I ask is that you engage directly with the texts and continue to be as thoughtful in your original work and as engaged in your comments as you have been thus far.  And I have had the pleasure of talking in person with two of you this week. I am always open to that!  I am on campus MWF.   If you are ever around and want to talk for a few minutes in a dusty office instead of on the Interweb, you know where to find me.

I leave you with an interview with Shamsie:

Blogosphere and the Class

As I am reading your conversations, I would like to ask you to consider starting to do a few things:

• Try to vary to whom you respond so all voices are met with conversation.  You should be following all student blogs and my blog.  Please check to ensure that you are following all of us.
• Be sure to moderate your comments so that your peers’ voices are heard (and so that I can do the correct accounting of student work).  Because there may be a lag in responses coming up after I assess a blog post, I am going to ask that each of you keeps track of the number of responses you have done throughout the course of the semester.   If you notice a discrepancy on D2L, please let me know.
• If you haven’t already, please start using direct quotes from the texts in your responses.  I like that some of you are adding a works cited.  Because we are using a common text, I will not require a works cited, though it is a good habit.
• Blogging is bit of a different genre than many of you are used to, and I do think it is one wave of the future that academics must have an understanding of.  Please consider using paragraphing more generously (I am not saying cut your ideas–just offer more breaks for the readers’ eyes).
• Also with blogging, the reader will be looking for images and links.  Start to play around a little bit in these next few weeks with making your blog more “bloggy.”  But keep up with the solid content.
• It would help me if you would “like” my weekly posts just as a check-in so I know everyone has read it.  I don’t need you to really like it!
• Try to mention all of the elements of the reading in your posts.

Keep up the great work!

Thinking about grad school?

If you are thinking about grad school, you might want to look into the GRE lit test.  It is only offered in November, so if you are hoping to apply by January 1 for next fall, you need to get that duck in a row now…Just saying.  If you ever need to have a conversation about grad school, let me know.

Week Two: “National” Identity

What is national identity?  Does such a thing exist?  Who defines whom?  How do these questions inform the study of literature?  These are questions that are at the forefront of my mind these days as the nation talks about building walls and testing who can and cannot enter the country.  I would like you read this executive order and have it in the back of your mind as you do this week’s work.

It shouldn’t surprise you that these questions form the foundation of po-co study.  Based on your thoughtful responses from last week, you already have thought about your position as po-co scholars and the danger of a single story.  This week’s readings take that idea into the theoretical realm.  You will be introduced to four quintessential essays dealing with the questions of defining identity and nationality, and I am guessing you will think a lot about your subject positions of teacher, student, American, etc…

For blog post three, I would like to see you write a response where you integrate your ideas about Fanon, Cesaire (I don’t know how to do an accented “e,” so I apologize!), Anderson, and Jameson along with the definitions from the Ashcroft text.  Think two-ish page response paper.  I would like to see some direct quotes from the texts that you are wrangling with.  These are four doozies, so stay strong, and feel free to email me (or do a quickie blog post) with questions.  That is the point of theory.  I find the more I read, the less I know (cue cheesy music).

Remember, your job every week is to do one extensive post as outlined above and a shorter response (at least).  I don’t know about you, but I am already feeling disorganized when it comes to keeping track of posts.  You don’t have to.  I just want you to write your best work, read everyone’s posts, and reply to one.  I don’t want anyone getting overwhelmed by posting when really I want you to focus on creating your own original scholarship.

And because I think we need a relevant laugh…